Hey, I am a climbing type of fella from California, moved to Perth for Uni, been bouldering around here a bit and I am looking to move to east Gippsland. I am trying to find some good mini-guides and locations of bouldering and climbing spots in and around the area. Is there an online guide for bouldering and climbing spots within a 3-5 hour radius of Sale?
Cheers-

Hey buddy, good luck, I lived in Yarram for 4 years and there is bugger all climbing (even rock!) within cooee of the joint. Living in Sale, you'll have better access to the limestone around Buchan (http://www.chockstone.org/Buchan/Buchan.htm) and the granite of Mount Erica (http://www.chockstone.org/MtErica/MtErica.htm) up behind Traralgon. There is some fabulous bouldering and climbing at Wilsons Prom and some crappy scary rock on Phillip Island at Cape Woolamai (http://www.chockstone.org/CapeWoolamai/Woolamai.htm). There is some ok bouldering at Walkerville South out near Bird Rock including some very steep cave problems and a slabby wall below the lighthouse at Cape Liptrap (sth of Walkerville Sth). Mt Baw Baw is pretty close which has some good MTB, hiking and limited XC and downhill skiing/boarding...no ice though - too low. There is some fun suff up at Hotham and Falls Ck but if you're driving over that way, just keep going to Mt Buffalo. All the above (excepting Buffalo) can be found in the Eastern Victoria Guidebook from the Victorian Climbing Club (http://www.vicclimb.org.au/index.php?location=shop) . My extra super special advice: buy a decent touring sea kayak and get out into the lake systems in the area!

Wow, thanks for all the info, that's good stuff. I am still in Perth getting my skills up bouldering around in the hills and what not. It's pretty isolated over here, which is kinda cool. Go climb and I don't see anyone or evidence that anyone has been to some of the spots out here. I really look forward to moving. Looks like I'll be living in Maffra. Good advice Paulie about the kayak, I am keen but hiking, MTB and climbing are my fav's. I have been looking for some good small online guides for Bouldering out in the Alpine national forest way but failed to find anything. I can't wait to get back into the snow.

I'm in Traralgon, one of two frustrated climbers here. There really is nothing worth writing home about. Me and the other guy, went to Valencia Creek north of Maffra and managed a couple of decent enough trad routes (FA's as far as we know). Decent enough if you don't mind loose rock, nettles, brambles, thistles, and multiple wasp-stings on lead.

It's about the worst move you can make with climbing in mind. I ended up building a woody.

On 18/01/2012 Civilian wrote:> Me and the other guy, went to Valencia>Creek north of Maffra and managed a couple of decent enough trad routes>(FA's as far as we know). Decent enough if you don't mind loose rock,>nettles, brambles, thistles, and multiple wasp-stings on lead.

Have you checked the Eastern Victoria guide? It describes climbing at Valencia Creek and other "local" areas.

I've got the guide book but it's still pretty light on as far as good climbing in this area. A lot of entries are along the lines of low grade climbs with a few scattered higher grades here and there. There are a few more climbs further afield which I hope we'll be making tracks for soon but I was uncertain about access in a 2WD. Seems like they might be OK though.

nmonteith: Can you give some more details regarding the the Mitchell River climbs?

On 19/01/2012 soundfx wrote:>nmonteith: Can you give some more details regarding the the Mitchell River>climbs?

Everything is in the VCC Eastern Victoria guide. It gave pretty good descriptions. It's sort of blocky fine grained sandstone - a bit like The Rock or Morialta. Access was easy for most of the climbing.

There is also quite extensive cliffs up at Nielsons Crags (sort of near Licola). Weird kind of chossy volcanic rock (a bit like Werribie Gorge). The cliffs are big (100m in places) and lots of trad potential.

On 19/01/2012 Civilian wrote:>soundfx and I decided that any trip up to Neilsons would have to be at>least an overnight camping job for us in Traralgon. Are the roads ok for>a standard 2WD in dry weather?

The main problem is small trees over the road - so bring a saw. The roads themselves are flat and in good condition. The campsite at the end of the road is lovely.

The rock is a bit flaky so really hard face climbing probably wouldn't go so well - however with a few bolts there is probably quite a few low grade 20s you could do. The corner and arete two pitch routes we did were excellent. I did go back on a another trip a few years later but my drill died after two bolts so we never did put up any more face routes.

It's not Arapiles but if you are a local its certainly a cool spot to explore. Feels and looks quite a lot like some of the Tassie wilderness dolerite crags.

So overall it sounds like I am moving to a pretty desperate place for climbing. I'll be there in August. I just can't believe there is so little to climb on around that area. I live in Perth and there seems to be enough climbing in a short drive. Nothing big but plenty of rock.Mostly heaps of bouldering. I hope there are some boulders in and around where I'll be living? Maybe? I'm getting kind of bummed out about the news.
Is there more about climbing in the Alpine national park and Avon wilderness forest in the Eastern Vic climbing guide book?
Cheers-

Sorry mate but there really is bugger all around there, I found it amazing too when I lived there and I spent quite a bit of time exploring up in and around the Strzeleckis etc. Wilsons Prom is awesome though and plenty to keep you busy there while Mt Erica is quite a lot of fun too. I started developing some ok problems at Walkerville South and if you're into new routing there is some potential (with Park Vic's permission, of course) at Agnes Falls near Foster, nice sandstone and some multipitch potential, there's a nice looking 50mtr(?) overhanging face there below the lookout that would probably support a couple of hard bolted routes while on the opposite side there are some cool looking lines up slabs and aretes, most of which would need some minor cleaning.

I am keen to get into some ice climbing and alpine hiking as well. I am hoping to get involved with the Alpine search and rescue team. That'd be nice. What's the bouldering like in and around the area I'm soon to call home?

On 13/03/2012 AcaliwebbinOz wrote:>I am keen to get into some ice climbing and alpine hiking as well.

Sorry, I was being sarcastic about waterfall ice. You are moving to a climbing black hole! There may be some granite boulders up on the high plains and in particular up near Dinner Plain, though I never bothered going that far to check them out...

I went looking for worthwhile bouldering at Mt Erica- it is quite featureless granite so slabby blobs all really just too high to boulder and in reality too short to climb (though didn't stop the area being developed).

There is a small pocket of limestone out around Buchan, but definitely isn't Ceuse!

Squeaky Beach Bouldering on the prom is the only nice climbing I've done in Gippsland.

Best just to get the Eastern Vic guidebook and then resign yourself to the knowledge that you are moving to an area that really wasn't the best option for a climber.